Empirical Research On The Operating Efficiency Of Rural Lodging In Chongqing

The urbanization rate increased from 36.22% in 2000 to 58.52% in 2017 in China.Rapid urbanization has caused large migration for rural labor force to cities and towns,which results in a certain amount of idle or inefficient used homestead and houses in rural area.With the economic development of China,the needs of urban population to get close to nature are urgent to be met.Therefore,rural tourism came into being and,as an important carrier of rural tourism,rural lodging began to rise in rural areas.In recent years,the phenomenon of idle homestead and rural lodging industry have gradually received great attention from the central government and the government has successively introduced a series of policies to support the use of idle homestead to develop the rural lodging industry.Faced with the upsurge of rural lodging,how to evaluate its operating efficiency scientifically and reasonably and guide its operating healthily and sustainably is a realistic problem in the development of rural lodging.Scholars at home and abroad have conducted discussions in-depth on issues related to rural lodging.However,most of the studied subjects are the rural lodging in the southeastern coastal areas of China.There are few researches on the development model and operating efficiency of rural lodging in inland rural areas.As an experimental zone for overall urban-rural comprehensive reform,the rural lodging industry in Chongqing is still in its infancy.Driven by the prosperity of tourism,it has great potential for development.Consequently,this paper chooses Chongqing as the research area.It is of great practical significance to study the development model and operational efficiency of rural lodging to promote the optimum utilization of rural resource and sustainable development of regional rural lodging industry.This paper selects 50 samples of rural lodging for investigation.Firstly,we divide the development model according to its industrial resources and analyze their characteristics.Secondly,we use the data envelopment analysis(DEA)method to evaluate quantitatively and contrast the operating efficiency of rural lodging of different development model by constructing a scientific and rational evaluation index system.Thirdly,benchmarking principles are used to select benchmarks for DEA-invalid rural lodging based on the calculated super-efficiency values.Finally,we analyze the inefficient used causes of rural lodging of different development model and put forward suggestions for improvement.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)Analyzing the development model and characteristics of rural lodging,the study finds that: According to resources of rural lodging,it can be divided into three development models: environmental resource-based,folk-culture-based,and agricultural resource-based.Among them,the number of environmental resource-based rural lodging is the largest,which is mainly distributed in areas rich in mountainous and forest resources,and relies on ideal natural environment resources around them to attract tourists.The number of folk-culture-based rural lodging is the second largest,most of which are located in remote areas,attracting tourists by local ethnic customs or specific cultural themes.The number of agricultural resource-based rural lodging is the least,and they are mainly distributed in areas with concentrated agricultural land resources,relying on agricultural resources to develop diverse farming activities to attract tourists.(2)Evaluating the operating efficiency of rural lodging,and it is found that: Overall,the operating efficiency of rural lodging in Chongqing is relatively high;for the four regions,the comprehensive efficiency and scale efficiency are generally high in west and northeast but low in southeast and the central city.As for the technical efficiency,it has a balanced distribution,but is slightly lower in the northeast and southeast;From the perspective of development model,there are certain differences in operating efficiency among three modes of rural lodging,and the average values of the overall efficiency,technical efficiency,and scale efficiency meets the following order: environmental resource-based> folk-culture-based> agricultural resource-based.(3)Analyzing the inefficiency reasons for the rural lodging's operating efficiency,the study finds that: Low utilization of input resources results in irrational input-output structure,which is the main reason for low operating efficiency of rural lodging.And poor moderation of operation scale is the secondary reason for low operating efficiency.Besides,three development modes are characterized with redundant funds and input of tourism elements,low reoccupation rate of tourists,and lacking of architectural features.The environmental resource-based rural lodging has redundant input of occupied area,the number of rooms,and insufficient annual resettlement employment;The folkculture-based rural lodging has redundant input of occupied area,managed personnel,the number of rooms,supporting facilities,and insufficient annual income and annual resettlement employment;The agricultural resource-based rural lodging's moderation of operation scale is poor.Based on above research conclusions,the following optimization proposals are proposed for the operation of rural lodging in Chongqing: 1)The rural lodging in four regions should adjust their inputoutput structure and business scale according to their own shortages in order to realize the best benefits;2)Make full use of idle farmhouses to develop rural lodging,which can reduce the cost of prophase reconstruction and increase social benefits;3)Reduce tourism element type and achieve characteristic development of each model of rural lodging;4)For environment-resource-based rural lodging,the investment of occupied area should be controlled.Besides,it should not only be satisfied with increasing the economic benefits,but also need to increase the social benefits of promoting local farmers' employment so that the rural lodging can realize sustainable and healthy development;For folk-customer-based rural lodging,it should avoid blindly increasing the occupied area and the number of rooms and should improve the supporting facilities and service quality to create exquisite rural lodging products;For agricultural resource-based rural lodging,it should control the operations scale and increase the use of the abandoned farmland.